High frequency unipolar electroporation ablation

Abstract

An electroporation ablation system includes a probe to be inserted into a body part of a living subject, and including a distal end including at least one electrode, body-surface patches to be applied to a skin surface, an ablation power generator to apply at least one first electrical pulse train between the electrode(s) and first one(s) of the body-surface patches, and a processor to provide a measurement of movement of the living subject responsively to applying the first electrical pulse train(s) between the electrode(s) and the first one(s) of the body-surface patches, and select second one(s) of the body-surface patches responsively to the measurement of movement, and wherein the ablation power generator is configured to apply at least one second electrical pulse train between the electrode(s) and the second one(s) of the body-surface patches.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. An electroporation ablation system, comprising:
 a probe configured to be inserted into a body part of a living subject, and comprising a distal end including at least one electrode; 
 a plurality of body-surface patches configured to be applied to a skin surface of the living subject; 
 an ablation power generator configured to be selectively electrically connected to the at least one electrode and at least one of the plurality of body-surface patches, and configured to generate at least one first electrical pulse train, and apply the at least one first electrical pulse train between the at least one electrode and at least a first one of the plurality of body-surface patches; and 
 a processor configured to:
 provide a measurement of movement of the living subject responsively to applying the at least one first electrical pulse train between the at least one electrode and the at least first one of the body-surface patches; 
 compare the measurement to a threshold; and 
 select at least a second one of the plurality of body-surface patches responsively to the measurement of movement of the living subject exceeding the threshold, and wherein the ablation power generator is configured to generate at least one second electrical pulse train, and apply the at least one second electrical pulse train between the at least one electrode and the at least second one of the plurality of body-surface patches. 
 
 
     
     
       2. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein:
 at least a third one of the plurality of body-surface patches is configured to provide at least one position signal; and 
 the processor is configured to provide the measurement of movement responsively to the at least one position signal. 
 
     
     
       3. The system according to  claim 2 , further comprising magnetic field generator coils configured to generate alternating magnetic fields in a region including the at least third one of the plurality of body-surface patches, wherein:
 the at least third one of the plurality of body-surface patches comprises at least one magnetic sensor configured to provide the at least one position signal responsively to sensing the generated alternating magnetic fields; and 
 the processor is configured to compute the measurement of movement responsively to the at least one position signal received from the at least one magnetic sensor. 
 
     
     
       4. The system according to  claim 2 , wherein:
 the at least third one of the plurality of body-surface patches comprises at least one respective patch electrode configured to provide the at least one position signal; and 
 the processor is configured to compute the measurement of movement responsively to the at least one position signal received from the at least one respective patch electrode. 
 
     
     
       5. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein:
 the processor is configured to select the at least second one of the plurality of body-surface patches while a given ablation location of the body part is being ablated; and 
 the ablation power generator is configured to generate the at least one first electrical pulse train and the at least one second electrical pulse train to ablate the given ablation location of the body part. 
 
     
     
       6. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the ablation power generator is configured to generate: the at least one first electrical pulse train to ablate a first ablation location of the body part; and the at least one second electrical pulse train to ablate a second, different, ablation location of the body part. 
     
     
       7. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to select two of the plurality of body-surface patches such that the two include the at least first one of the plurality of body-surface patches and at least another one of the plurality of body-surface patches. 
     
     
       8. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the at least second one of the plurality of body-surface patches includes a sub-set of the plurality of body-surface patches and wherein the processor is configured to randomly select at least one of the sub-set of the plurality of body-surface patches. 
     
     
       9. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the at least first one of the plurality of body-surface patches includes a first sub-set of the plurality of body-surface patches and the at least second one includes a second sub-set of the plurality of body-surface patches and wherein the first sub-set of the plurality of body-surface patches is other than the second-sub groupsub-set of the plurality of body-surface patches. 
     
     
       10. The system according to  claim 1 , wherein the at least first one of the plurality of body-surface patches includes a first body-surface patch configured to be attached to a chest of the living subject, and a second body-surface patch configured to be attached to a back of the living subject. 
     
     
       11. An electroporation ablation method, comprising:
 generating at least one first electrical pulse train; 
 applying the at least one first electrical pulse train between: at least one electrode of a distal end of a probe inserted into a body part of a living subject; and at least a first one of a plurality of body-surface patches applied to a skin surface of the living subject; 
 providing a measurement of movement of the living subject responsively to applying the at least one first electrical pulse train between the at least one electrode and the at least first one of the body-surface patches; 
 comparing the measurement to a threshold; 
 selecting at least a second one of the plurality of the body-surface patches responsively to the measurement of movement of the living subject exceeding the threshold; 
 generating at least one second electrical pulse train; and 
 applying the at least one second electrical pulse train between the at least one electrode and the at least second one of the plurality of body-surface patches. 
 
     
     
       12. The method according to  claim 11 , wherein:
 at least a third one of the plurality of body-surface patches is configured to provide at least one position signal; and 
 the providing includes providing the measurement of movement responsively to the at least one position signal. 
 
     
     
       13. The method according to  claim 12 , further comprising:
 generating alternating magnetic fields in a region including the at least third one of the plurality of body-surface patches; 
 at least one magnetic sensor comprised in the at least third one of the body-surface patches providing the at least one position signal responsively to sensing the generated alternating magnetic fields; and 
 computing the measurement of movement responsively to the at least one position signal received from the at least one magnetic sensor. 
 
     
     
       14. The method according to  claim 12 , further comprising:
 providing the at least one position signal by at least one respective patch electrode comprised in the at least third one of the plurality of body-surface patches; and 
 computing the measurement of movement responsively to the at least one position signal received from the at least one respective patch electrode. 
 
     
     
       15. The method according to  claim 11 , further comprising:
 selecting the at least second one of the plurality of body-surface patches while a given ablation location of the body part is being ablated; and 
 generating the at least one first electrical pulse train and the at least one second electrical pulse train to ablate the given ablation location of the body part. 
 
     
     
       16. The method according to  claim 11 , wherein: the generating of the at least one first electrical pulse train is performed to ablate a first ablation location of the body part; and the generating of the at least one second electrical pulse train is performed to ablate a second, different, ablation location of the body part. 
     
     
       17. The method according to  claim 11 , wherein the selecting of the at least second one of the plurality of body-surface patches is performed such that the at least second one of the plurality of body-surface patches includes the at least first one of the plurality of body-surface patches and at least another one of the plurality of the body-surface patches patches. 
     
     
       18. The method according to  claim 11 , wherein the at least second one of the plurality of body-surface patches includes a sub-set of the plurality of body-surface patches and wherein the selecting includes randomly selecting at least one of the sub-set of the plurality of body-surface patches. 
     
     
       19. The method according to  claim 11 , wherein the at least first one of the plurality of body-surface patches includes a first sub-set of the plurality of body-surface patches and the at least second one of the plurality of body-surface patches includes a second sub-set of the plurality of body-surface patches and wherein the selecting of the at least second one of the plurality of body-surface patches is performed such that the second sub-set of the plurality of body-surface patches is other than the first sub-set of the plurality of body-surface patches. 
     
     
       20. The method according to  claim 11 , further comprising selecting the at least first one of the plurality of body-surface patches to include at least one of the plurality of body-surface patches configured to be attached to a chest of the living subject, and at least one of the plurality of body-surface patches configured to be attached to a back of the living subject.